Chapter 8 008

The palm strike that blew out the candle, if compared to the palm power of the people in the previous assassination fight on the long street, it would be like an ant trying to shake a tree.

But for Shi Qingruo, it was undoubtedly a leap from zero to one.

The flame of the candle slowly rose and finally dissipated in the shadows of the night in the corridor. Shi Qingruo stared at it for a long time.

Until Guan Qi walked in front of her.

Shi Qingruo turned her head and saw that the moonlight in the courtyard illuminated the white frost on the ends of his hair and the tops of his eyebrows, and also clearly reflected the blank and confused expression on his face.

She did not resist and let him reach out and press his hand on her wrist.

"...Do you have internal energy?"

"Yes." The curve of Shi Qingruo's lips became more and more obvious.

She had thought about leaving the system and relying entirely on her own efforts to learn martial arts. Even if she started later than these already famous people in the martial arts world, it didn't matter.

If the power distribution in this world were the same as in the games she'd played before, she knew of several techniques and secret elixirs that could rapidly build internal energy, enough to close the gap. Those whose

skills reached the level of Guan Qi, Zhuge Shenhou, and others could even pass their power on to others, nurturing a martial arts master.

Unfortunately, shortly after arriving in this world, she heard a comment from a young warrior who had studied under a top martial artist.

He said her meridians were extremely weak, making her unsuitable for martial arts. If she forced herself to control her internal energy, she would only burn herself.

Rather than risking death from disrupted internal energy and exploding, she'd be better off remaining an ordinary person without martial arts skills.

But this commenter didn't know, and even Guan Qi didn't know—

what's impossible with human effort might be achieved through inexplicable, unnatural means.

For example, today, when the undercover undercover agent of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower within the Misty Heaven Alliance, following Su Mengzhen's instructions, signaled his surrender to Shi Qingruo, a long-sealed section of the system panel was revealed.

Having achieved recognition as the master by the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower, Shi Qingruo, the system's host, could clearly sense an incredible internal energy appearing out of thin air, coursing slowly through her meridians.

Like a stream of heavenly rain condensing on long-dry soil, it flowed with unstoppable force, flowing through her entire body in a complete cycle.

As she channeled this internal energy, it even grew at an imperceptible rate.

This left her with no doubt: if...

if she could gather all the subordinates from the three factions under her wing, could this person, whose physique was unsuitable for martial arts, suddenly become a prodigy?

Or perhaps, this system, accompanying her on this journey, held many more functions for her to explore.

For example—

those eyes, darker and brighter in the moonlight, stared at Guan Qi.

As if sensing his gaze, he raised his head.

"Seventh Brother, Lei Sun came here today to test us—"

Guan Qi's brows knitted together, as if recalling the ill-intentioned "guest" at the wedding banquet.

Shi Qingruo immediately grabbed his arm, preventing the half-witted fellow from charging straight for the Six and a Half Hall over these words.

Such recklessness wouldn't accomplish anything.

She gently advised, "Just listen to me first."

"He's here to test us, we'll take care of our own. Now that I have the opportunity to practice martial arts, if I can find a way to protect myself, then whatever schemes he has will be doomed to fail, won't they?"

Perhaps because the wedding banquet, despite its setbacks, had gone

off without a hitch, Guan Qi's temper was much more manageable and calmer. He didn't truly understand the intricacies of Shi Qingruo's words, but he nodded subconsciously at the smile before him. "Okay, I'll teach you."

"Not just me, but everyone in the Misty Heaven Alliance will do their utmost to protect your safety."

After the wedding ceremony, she was officially half-master of the Misty Heaven Alliance.

...

The colorful paper and red silk lining the streets of Bianjing had not yet been completely removed, a reminder of the grand wedding that had taken place there yesterday.

However, there were always new things happening in the martial arts world, and ordinary people always had new things to talk about. If you walked the streets, you would hear more than just rumors about this matter.

Even compared to the grudges between the Seven Saints of the Misty Heaven Alliance and the Lei Chief of the Six and a Half Hall...

As Wang Xiaoshi helped Bai Choufei hang calligraphy and paintings on the wooden racks for their stall, he heard more people talking about the Saint Lord's wife's beauty.

Of course, this had nothing to do with them.

Yesterday, when the fighting was at its peak, the two of them had planned to seize the opportunity to strike, perhaps finding a chance to stand out. Unexpectedly, the ruthless Chief Constable suddenly appeared in the bride's sedan chair, startling the assassins and causing them to forget what they were supposed to do.

In the end, of course, nothing was done.

As for the subsequent wedding banquet, with no connections, it had even less to do with them.

Those who needed to go to the Six Gates Prison stayed there, those who needed to return home to recuperate did so, and the two of them should continue to make a living in Bianjing.

After helping to settle this one, he still had to go to the pharmacy to see patients.

But just as Wang Xiaoshi was about to pick up the medicine basket at his feet and stand, a shadow stretched out before him.

"If you want to ask about calligraphy and paintings..."

"No, I'm not here to buy calligraphy and paintings, I'm here to see you."

Wang Xiaoshi looked up suddenly.

The woman standing before him had a clear, dreamy face. True to her words, she didn't look at the paintings already displayed. Instead, she regarded him and Bai Choufei with an unusually calm gaze. This didn't look like someone coming to open their business.

But what truly startled Wang Xiaoshi wasn't the mere appearance in front of their stall, but the fact that, upon first meeting, he quickly recognized the man's identity based on his familiar figure.

In the two sides that had clashed in the street yesterday, several Saint Lords from the Misty Heaven Alliance were wearing masks. The Second Saint Lord was none other than this uninvited guest!

Bai Choufei, realizing this, stood up and tucked his fingers into his sleeves.

Anyone familiar with him would have recognized this as a sign that he was ready to strike at any moment.

Zhu Xiaoyao, noticing their wariness, smiled and said, "There's no need for you to be so cautious. I'm just delivering a message. My wife has requested a visit. Please accompany me."

Without moving, Bai Choufei asked in a deep voice, "What if we don't want to go?"

Both he and Wang Xiaoshi could discern that the invitation from the Misty Heaven Alliance visitor wasn't meant to be coercive.

Otherwise, she could have stationed all the Misty Heaven Alliance members nearby to prevent their escape. However, no unusual movements were observed in the surrounding area.

It can't be said that since the two saints have come in person, they still underestimate their abilities and just come alone to arrest people.

Zhu Xiaoyao lowered his voice, with a bit of teasing in his eyes: "Bai Choufei, 28 years old, used to sing in Luoyang under the pseudonym Bai Youmeng, worked as a bodyguard in the Jinhua Escort Agency under the pseudonym Bai Yingyang, and was also known as Bai Jinlong. He was highly valued by General Helian's Mansion, but unfortunately..." (*)

"Okay, no need to say more." Bai Choufei frowned and interrupted Zhu Xiaoyao's words, but after she stopped talking, she turned her head and looked in the direction of Wang Xiaoshi, "Wang Xiaoshi, 23 years old, studied under the old senior Xu Xiaoyi, a lay Buddhist of Tianyi, and the weapon he used was the sword that was not used by Lei Sun——"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Wang Xiaoshi threw away the medicine basket and turned over the calligraphy and painting stall, fearing that Zhu Xiaoyao would continue to talk, "You are really too much. We asked why we should go with you, but you told us everything about the two of us."

Zhu Xiaoyao said casually: "Young Master Wang is wrong to say that. If you really told us everything about you, you should talk about how Young Master Bai was once a wanted criminal by the Ministry of War, or how Young Master Wang started dating at the age of eight and has been heartbroken fifteen times... I just want to tell you that it is because I understand you that I feel it is necessary to make this trip to invite you in person."

Wang Xiaoshi: "...you said it."

He covered his face and sighed.

It was obviously a serious occasion, but because of Zhu Xiaoyao's words, Bai Choufei began to pay attention to the expression on his face, as if to see whether what Zhu Xiaoyao said was true or false.

What the hell is this!

Isn't it said that the Mitian League was besieged in Beijing in the past few years because of the targeting of the Six and a Half Hall, and most of the time it had to stop fighting? How could they still have the leisure to pay attention to a small person like him?

Or they paid attention to such a trivial place.

But how could he know that Zhu Xiaoyao, who came to initiate the invitation, was nominally a member of the Mitian League, but the information she read out was taken from the Bailou of the Golden Wind and Rain Tower.

If it weren't bad to say all these things in the street, she could even tell Bai Choufei that the intelligence department she contacted even knew that he had a tumor under his left breast.

This is the horror of a force like the Golden Wind and Rain Tower standing in Beijing for many years.

But in such an intelligence department, there is no information about Miss Shi.

I don't know why in just a few days, she went from sympathizing with Miss Shi's experience to working for her.

Zhu Xiaoyao complained in her heart, and turned her head to look at Wang Xiaoshi's expression, which was even more confused than hers, like a silly goose, and immediately found some comfort. She was not the one who was kept in the dark, haha.

She led the two men through the headquarters of the Misty Heaven Alliance and stopped in front of a reception room: "This is it."

Zhu Xiaoyao stopped and nodded in the face of Wang Xiaoshi's puzzled look. "The lady has ordered me not to follow in. She said that old friends don't need so many people around to reminisce about the past."

Old friends?

Wang Xiaoshi was puzzled. He didn't know when the lady of the Holy Lord of the Misty Heaven Alliance had dealt with him, so that there was such a thing as an old friend.

But since he was already here, perhaps from the moment he entered the Misty Heaven Alliance, the people who paid attention to this place would give him a special mark, and he would have no chance to retreat.

He turned his head to look at Bai Choufei and read the same emotion in the other's eyes.

Anyway, if the lady of the Holy Lord had any ill intentions, the two of them would have a chance to fight their way out, and perhaps they could even become famous in Kyoto, so it didn't matter if it was such a risky move.

Let's go in and take a look!

What made both of them feel a little unusual was that not only did Zhu Xiaoyao not bring many subordinates with her when she came to see them, but even in this hall, as she said, there was no one guarding, as if to prevent their conversation from being disturbed.

In this house where the wedding banquet furnishings were removed, the most eye-catching was the figure with her back to the door.

When the door was opened, the wind blowing into the hall blew her red and green long gown, making her figure look a little thin and thin, but the blue bird gold hairpin in her hair fluttered its wings, and the four colors of red, black, gold and green were entangled, turning this thinness into lightness.

Hearing the sound of the door opening behind her, she slowly turned her head and looked in the direction of the person coming.

Wang Xiaoshi immediately cried out: "Master, why is it you?"

When the face that was made more and more luxurious by the clothes turned to him, after a moment of shock at the beauty, he immediately realized that the "old friend" in Zhu Xiaoyao's mouth was not a random remark, but a fact.

When he just said goodbye to his master and left the mountain, he had fought with a group of human traffickers in Hubei and saved a girl with a dirty face and no martial arts.

After escaping from danger, he was told that the other party was named Shi Qingruo and was kidnapped by accident.

Unfortunately, on the way to Beijing, Miss Wen, who had met them by chance, was angered by them and left. Miss Tian, who was rescued on the river, left without saying goodbye. Miss Shi told them that she was going to find a place to live in seclusion because of the danger in Beijing, and left.

Only he and Bai Choufei were left to travel the world and live in Bianjing.

Because of this, he never thought that when he suddenly met Shi Qingruo again, her identity had changed and she became the wife of the Holy Lord of the Mi Tian League, and she was also

the protagonist of the wedding banquet yesterday.

If Shi Qingruo did not seem to be restrained at this moment, and her expression had not changed from the uneasiness at that time, Wang Xiaoshi would have suspected that she was robbed here by Guan Qi of the Mi Tian League.

But she seemed to be living a good life.

When she gathered her sleeves and sat down, the green waves spread on her side, reflecting the golden and red dark patterns, which suited her a hundred times more than the thorn hairpin cloth skirt she wore that day.

This face, which is the most beautiful in the world, seemed to be held in front of gold, jade and brocade, just to see her smile.

She did smile at this moment: "I was lucky enough to hear the ambitions of Mr. Wang and Mr. Bai on the river that day. Now I am lucky enough to realize one or two of them. I rashly invited you. You won’t be offended, right?"

"Mr. Bai said that if a man cannot create eternal achievements and become famous all over the world, his life will be meaningless. Mr. Wang said that you just want to give it a try. It doesn’t matter whether you have to have eternal fame and eternal achievements, but it is a bit regrettable to give up without trying."

"I wonder if this sentence has changed today?"

The breeze on the river, the bright moon in the mountains, the waves reflecting the shadows, raised the cup to chat.

That was a conversation when they were about to arrive in the capital. Although it was silent in Bianjing for a long time, they have never forgotten it.

Maybe it was because of the subsequent "disappearance" that it became clearer in memory.

Wang Xiaoshi did not expect to hear these words from Shi Qingruo.

But when she said this, he seemed to suddenly think of the scene of that day.

Shi Qingruo sat at the stern of the boat that day, like the girl Xi Shi in the ancient story who could make the fish in the river sink, but now she sat upright on the Mingtang and became a nobleman looking down at them.

Bai Choufei's breathing became heavy for a moment, and then he replied: "Even if it has not changed, it does not have to be the Mi Tian League."

Shi Qingruo shook her head: "But only the Mi Tian League has a lot of work to do, and can give you..."

"The most irreplaceable position."